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I had bought an Altec Lansing 2.1 Speaker set last year. This was my first 2.1 speaker set and I had never used or heard properly speakers with woofer(especially in my own house). The new sound levels were amazing, I mean compared to a pre-historic 2.0 Creative, this baby was like "O' sweet honey" to my ears, literally.......

But pretty soon I got a li'l bored of the exaggerated bass and sounds of the new speakers. Then I began looking for solutions in the internet, and my sights fell on SRS Audio Sandbox. I never even imagined how good this piece of software could be. The presets "WOW HD" and "TruSurround" worked like a charm on my entry level baby and yet, my speakers now produced sound that was crystal clear, and a league ahead of it's own self.

Here's a description of the software:-

" SRS Audio Sandbox is the ultimate audio enhancement software for the PC. Experience amazing sound tailored to any PC speaker configuration - headphones, stereo speakers, or surround speakers, all with the click of a button. Users simply select their audio content (e.g. music, movie, game or voice) and then choose from many presets (i.e. rock music, classical, jazz, country, etc).For users who want even more customization, SRS Audio Sandbox lets you personalize your audio through the use of advanced controls, which provide deep, rich bass, restore the clarity to vocal and high frequency sounds, provide 3D enhancement for stereo and mono content, and more.

Best of all, SRS Audio Sandbox allows users to experience surround sound on their PC, regardless of their speaker arrangement, even over headphones. SRS technology is able to overcome the physical limitations of poorly placed or small size speakers, delivering the best entertainment experience available on a PC.

SRS WOW HD – improves the audio performance of compressed and uncompressed audio by expanding the size of the audio image in the horizontal and verticle sound field and creating a deep, rich bass response. The patented techniques in SRS WOW HD also retrieve information lost in the mixing process to create a more natural audio experience

I don't think the person needs an introduction. He is known worldwide, and more lovingly, as the father of India, if not the world.

Gandhiji was born on October 2nd 1869, and his birth was no less important that of a god's. The first person who followed "ahimsa" or non-violence beyond any other's dare, and the person who achieved the impossible all without the use of force, but with just the power of truth.

His famed Satyagrahas are still remembered, and chapters of him in our textbooks can be found all over the world's different history books and other texts as well. It was this man who made possible the independence of India, and also winning of equal rights for blacks in South Africa before.

Even now, after 61 years of his passing away(1948), we still remember this father figure and idol and shall always try to follow his principles throughout our lives.

It was just another day. I was going to the football ground. Everything was the same, the people, the trees, even the squirrels. Except...everything did not go according to what happened daily. Just ahead of me, I saw an aged woman slip and fall.

I immediately ran towards her..at first a little stunned..and my mind praying the hurt's not too serious. On reaching her location, I noticed blood, dripping from right beside her eyes. In my horror, I was transfixed, rooted to the spot. Then I somehow regained sense and asked the dadi(english translation grandmom) to stay there while I get some water.

I ran towards the field where I played, hoping someone had brought water. None had, but fortunately, I found an unused bottle lying there on the ground. I picked it up and sprinted across the field, crossed the road, and reached the other side to a tap, where I hurriedly filled the bottle.

Having done so, I rushed back at the quickest of pace, jumped over the entire entry gate(not too high but nonetheless), and ran like an olympian gold medalist to the spot where I saw dadi fall. But, by the time I reached there, she was nowhere to be. Another person said that dadi has gone already.

I silently prayed that she be alright....and went to play my football game.

Every word of this sentence is absolutely true. World Leaders may appear very popular and give many speeches in front of eager crowds, but hardly anyone remembers or even pays attention to what he or she says. Everywhere, there are examples of such cases starting from our very own Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King Junior. These people had great personalities and fought very hard for a good cause but nobody followed their teachings seriously. They only did so in their presence to show that they followed and admired them, etc.

Mahatma Gandhi was a leader who did not use violence to fulfill his responsibilities, works, or demands. Everybody talks greatly of him even now in front of others, but they don’t mean it by heart and have never actually followed his teachings and policies. Many people have started acting like “Munnabhai” from “Lage raho Munnabhai” and have described themselves as “Gandigiri” fans, but all is just a put up, a way to attract attention or to just joke around and have fun.

Martin Luther King Junior fought for equal rights in favour of the blacks. All the blacks supported him in his struggle to gain equal privileges and rights for the blacks as whites enjoyed. But no longer do the whites remember what he said and what were the circumstances when they started differentiating them from the blacks and have started this discrimination again. Mentioned below is based on a true incident:

One day, in a commercial airlines passenger flight, a white woman aged around fifty was seated with a man of black ethnicity. The woman was rather uncomfortable being seated beside the black man. After several minutes of disturbance between both the people, the airhostess came forward to settle the disputes.The white woman immediately said, “Who have you made me sit with, beside this disgusting black person. By heavens get me another seat this instant.”The airhostess, rather alarmed after all this, went to discuss with the captain the present situation. After several minutes, the air hostess returned. She straight came up to the black man and spoke,” Please get your hand-baggage and follow me. A first class seat awaits you. And anyway, you wouldn’t want to sit any longer with a person of such disgusting personality.”

Everybody was surprised to hear her comments but immediately erupted in applause for her good deed.

Such is still the condition for those people. But some are there who still follow the old leader’s teachings that have actually helped the society greatly.

Nowadays, the generation is changing as well as the attitude and thinking of people. They no longer think of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of the past as any out-of-the-ordinary people. They no longer believe that their advices and teachings remain of any value now. All this is collectively leading to a slow downfall and disruption in the society which finally harms us people.

The situation is getting worse day by day and not any improvement can be seen at all. Why, after a few years, I think that people would no longer refrain from openly insulting past world leaders in front of others. The situation is getting from bad to worse. The corruption level in the country is increasing at an alarming rate. Steps have to be taken now before it is too late. Need for more supporters and followers is increasing. Those who still believe in the teachings of the great people of the past have to be brought forward so that their teachings and advices can be taught to all again. We have to begin respecting our present leaders too because they are the one’s who are going to play an important role in making the future of the country, along with the rest of the population of the country.

“We have to start respecting our past for a good present and to form a beautiful future!”

Well, these days I'm extra pro-Open source, as having used them, I'm totally convinced of their functionality, and use. And what more? You no longer have the guilt of using pirated software....which mind you was made by some developer's hard work.

Today, I shall discus the various Linux Distros which are available to all of us, yet we don't know. I mean, sure you've heard of uBuntu, and Mac users would say, "Ha, I've seen more ugly birds", but then there is a uBuntu modification Distro called "Linux Mint" too. Now that's a new one right. Well step in for more.

1. uBuntu - The people's Linux

One of the most popular linux distros, this is an immediate choice for linux first timers, and let me tell you, it works like a charm. And the best part, it even supports windows applications via a virtual application.

This distro is known for it's simplicity, and also compatibility. Yes, it's requirements are very little. SO if you have an old PC lying in your house, fire it up with uBuntu.

Installation and installing applicatios too is a charm. I would put it this way, "A ten year old would find it easy."

2.OpenSUSE

Wowie, feel like whistling don't you? This one's an absolute charm. Although resource consumption will be more, however, it's basically at the same level, and I guess the widgets make up for the increased hardware demand.

3. OpenSolaris

Now this is a project which has picked up my interest too. Apparently Solaris uses(this part is for geeks) the ZFS File System which was develpoed by Sun itself, and it can store 18 billion billion times more data than 64-bit file systems(ZFS being 128-bit).

OpenSolaris was not developed to win any beauty contest, but it's main target was companies, and server systems. With it's host of features ranging from full multi-processor support to native virtualisation, this OS is packed to the rim.

So this was the short round-up of Linux OSes, hope you gained some useful knowledge.

Remember what mobile phones were a decade back? Well I certainly do. They were those queer "portable phones" that one could carry in their pockets and make calls to anyone without having to connect through any connection. "Wireless", that's the word. At that time, mobiles were made for their basic and principle purpose, "a means of contact even from remote areas." Those small screens, dotted digit screens....

Let us take a look at what mobiles are NOW:Touch screen, HD, WiFi, EDGE, GPRS, 8MP camera and what not. And look at the irony....you don't really need these services at all. True, today's world is such that people tend to be hopelessly after something they want, but in the process neglect what they need. That's what companies have taken advantage of, and to a great deal that is.

Agreed mobile phones are great, I mean when you show your flashy phone among the crowd, it turns many a envious eye....but that's not the point.

Bottom Line - Yes phones are cool great to have one(sweet...totally), but it isn't entirely essential(remember a world when there wasn't anything such as cell phone?).

Well, we all know about the open-source revolution, and to tell you, it's really going strong... Today, an article that serves two purposes, the open source revolution, and your photo-editing needs as well...nice for a combo ain't it..(WEBSITE - http://www.photoscape.org/)

"Photoscape" - What is this software?

Well, photoscape is an open source image-editing software. This means it can be freely modified and distributed (but not sold) . As you can see, the interface is really this simple(with the set of tabs on the top, not displayed in above picture). Even an 8 year old would find this a child's play to use.

Combine: Make one photo by attaching multiple photos vertically or horizontally

Animated GIF: Make one animation photo with multiple photos

Print: Print portrait shot, carte de visite, passport photo

Splitter: Divide a photo into multiple parts

Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it

Color Picker: Zoom in screen on images, search and pick the color

Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode

Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JPG

Paper Print: Print lined, graph, music, calendar papers

Face Search: Find similar faces on the internet

For those people who use Photoshop or some other commercial software for the above purposes, you might as well switch over as this program is free, plus it's very very light. It barely takes time to load, even on a moderately old PC. And the advanced photo tasks such as "Motion Blur" and "Bloom" are simply superb, and are not resource consuming at all.Hmm, I don't really recommend this program for these sorts of tasks(the picture above), but yes, it does them fine too.This is an example of the difference it can make in one picture, all with one click(it's that simple, yes!). Obviously, you can notice the change in quality of the second picture.

Here is another example done by me..

BEFORE EDIT

Well, this is the picture before editing. Notice some dark patches in the corner areas of the picture.

AFTER EDIT

And now, the actual picture, vibrant and in all it's glory, just the way you must have seen while clicking it.

Hmm, hope you found this review good enough to make you switch over to this software if you didn''t already know about it...

Okay, I never told any of you but just to break it, I'm a TECH-Addict, Compo-junkie, geek and all other terms you might have come across in this digital world. And also I'm a huge fan of PC gaming. But my computer presently, well lets just say, it's not up to the mark. So finally, after a year of wait, I shall be buying a new computer, by the end of this month!!!!!

The computer has been long over due but it's finally gonna come right after my semesters....yea.........

Teachers, they are like our second parent(or rather third). We are under the influence of teachers since we are 3 years of age, and let me tell you, even though we don't realise, what we really are today is a bit of every teacher who taught us and left an indelible impression on our minds(parents aside)."We are what we are because of teachers"

Busy, that word, we've heard it way too often, and mostly from our elders, parents. Never did I understand how they could be so busy as to not listen to me? Or not have any time for us, or sometimes straight away go off to bed. Well, till now I only blamed them for being lazy and boring, but now I'm actually learning the meaning of this word, and through HARD experience.

Let me tell you all that is on me.1. Tuitions, actually you can call it my second school itself. I spend 16 hours a week there (4 days) studying all that the "gone-by" scientists have left behind. If my school studies is not enough, here's a BONANZA.2. School, hmm here I do not complain. Honestly school is like a second home and it's a fun place to be.

Well, I know the numericals come out to be only 2, I tell you the magnitude ain't close. I can feel the heat now and I must tell you, it sometimes gets very bad and frustrating. But taking it all as a part of life, I go on, finding the happy moments all the way.

Sometimes I do wonder how did all this happen in just one year, how did I manage to get myself into all this, the thought just stays unanswered...........

Well, I had told you that I'm working on a book. Today I shall post a peek of it. Let me tell you, the book is far far away from completion. And given the limited time in this exceedingly - hectic life(classes even on sunday!), I don't really have much time for playing football, let alone writing a book.

But nonetheless, here's a short excerpt.

"Rain splattered across half the hall, the deafening clank of the raindrops almost inaudible in comparision to the thunder. The building was half non-existent, quite literally. THE STORM had blown it away, alongwith all the other things it did across the globe.

Below the half broken staircase was a barely distinguishable trap door, so well hidden that anything would fail to notice it even by standing right in front of it.

On the other corner of the hall stood a well covered figure, impossible to recognise among the shadows. It saw another figure leaping from the sky and landing just in front of the trap door. THen it did something which wasn't visible from behind. The next second, it vanished."

I think we all know pretty much what a big revolution "Twitter" is (come on who am I kidding, of course it is!). At first, it was awesome. I mean 140 characters mini-blog. It's for those who couldn't write a letter more(kidding), and for such, it was heaven on their mobile and internet life.

Stats say that twitter, since launch has grown at the rate of 2000%. Yeah you got that right, no extra zero, no typo. Everyone became suddenly addicted to this new motion. All they cared was how many people followed them. I agree twitter is good, and it lets you stay in touch, ALWAYS.

But think about it. Is it that necessary? How does it matter if a few people from around the world come to know that, "Wohoo, I got a new job." (-_-)

You get my point hopefully. What the thing is that it's like people have started salvaging on twitter in such a way as if they have been deprived of oxygen all this time(and I think people would prefer twitter over oxygen, at least some).What my point is, twitter has gotten beyond what it was made to be. There's a border to every nation, twitter's just crossed it's territory. People need to get a grip on themselves before they loose their minds completely. As it is, we have enough of facebook and all other (^_^) sites.

Some people might get me wrong that I'm totally against all such social networking sites, but look, this loon is himself blogging awn and awn and awn (o.0.o). Well to clarify, I'm not, but if I am against something, it's excess of it.

So what do you do now? Well before the time comes that a person is dying on the road and you decide to "tweet" about it first, all's well! But addiction to twitter(as a matter of fact, anything) is a very bad thing, and this picture does absolute justice to it.

If you click this link, you'll find my blog and a description of the same along with the latest post. I was approached by Feedmil a week ago regarding the same, and now I'm very happy to tell you that my blog is a part of the program and that website.

It has been 5 months since this blog was started and indeed, we have come a long way, yes we, you readers and I both together.

Well, just as a sneak peak, I'll be posting a few lines(rather chapters) from my book(I told you about it, and I ain't kidding) by the end of this month, and another mega post about.......t--tt--.

Today, I saw something which isn't worthy of a tell-a-tale but worth mentioning for all to know. I think people of New Delhi, India are pretty sure of their GK that Delhi is the country's capital, and also the crime capital of India. With a lead of more than you can count over the other states, you might as well call this city a law-less one.

Today, I saw it for myself. While on a cab back home, I saw two bikers(on the same bike) wearing a black suit with face all covered up. The next second, I heard a woman start screaming. I just could take in the minute details possible within a second. From what I reckon, those two guys stole the woman's cell, or necklace, or maybe her handbag, with the last case leaving her stranded, and second, cut off from home temporarily in a possibly unknown area.

This incident has left me shaken from the core, and indeed it's a sad event that took place.

Today is 15th August, the day India declared to the world that it too is an Independent country, and had achieved it without the use of force or non-violence after being under slave of British for nearly two centuries.

We all remember this day as the day our nation's father was most proud of all of us, for what we had finally achieved after many failed tries, and that all our hardships hadn't gone to waste. Even I feel inspired and awed when I read of the speeches that our Netas(Leaders) gave to instigate the people, awaken them and to make them fight for their rights, not literally, but with the supreme commandment of "non-violence."

Now, after 63 years, it indeed makes me proud to be a part of this country India. But there are many things that hit my mind hard, and most of all saddens and dampens all the liveliness associated with the word Independence. The truth is that, we are only using this word, but our country in the true sense is not living it.

Even now, our country is, say, emboldened with poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, etc. The number of people who die due to starvation or lack of medical facilities is phenomenal.

Every second people are dying, but every second even more people are coming to life. The birth rate too is very high here, and with a population that has long ago crossed 1 Billion, and in league with China, even a small percentage increase sums up to a huge real-life increase in number.

In short, we are far from living "Independence" and are still a great many foot-yards away from achieving it. But still, our country is rapidly making progress, even more so in these recent years, with the economy booming(save for recession time).

Swine Flu, yes it's happening, and everywhere. More than a million have been affected, and nearly 2000 have died.

That's a big figure if you think back to the time when it had happened to only a handful of people.

SO you get the magnitude of this problem, one person to one million. One million to a billion?

Well, I have provided many many details in my previous posts, which you can find using the "Search" option. Anyways, I myself have now started to panic as the flu has spread to many schools in India, although fatality rate is about 1% only, but this is just the beginning to a long tussle(last time H1B1 virus broke out, 200m people died!). I think you all get the picture of the problem I am trying to describe.

From tomorrow onwards, even I will be wearing a mask(surgical) to school, as preliminary, but no doubt, some protection. All I want to tell you people is:

- Stay away from known countries or areas of infection- Wash hands frequently with warm water- Try to control your eating outside- DO NOT go to crowded public places- Unless completely sure, do not go for a check up, in case you catch it there from another infected person

The virus is spreading, but all hope ain't lost. Vaccination is on the way, and if all is well, it shall arrive by December this year. Our own country India will come up with it's indigenous vaccine by Jan-Feb 2010. Hopefully it won't be too late by then.

Well guys, all for being against social networking sites and envying every beautiful picture of mother nature I see, I love another yet simple, harmonious and elegant element that life has to offer - "MUSIC".

I'm not saying that I'm a master musician, or that I sing very very well(ahem..), but yes, I love music(besides football). And yesterday, my parents surprised me and my little sister who's another music-frenzied-Hannah-Montana-fan 11 year old, by bringing in a CASIO, and not just any model, this one's grand, and the music soothes the ears.

Well, that's there. Now on to playing. I first thought of the "Harmonium"(if you all know, it's an Indian musical instrument that's yet unmatched by any electronic instrument, or so I thought. This CASIO is not just good, it's godly. When I started playing(I have some knowledge of a synthesizer as I used to play the harmonium for nearly 3 years), it was like WOW! The sound, it's soothing.

I actually woke up at 7am today and started playing the CASIO immediately. It feels joyous to heal the calm sound of a violin right in the morning, or the pleasure of feeling like you can actually play a piano which hasn't been squashed to a 1:10 ratio.

Well, that's it of my experience. Till then, I'll get to experimenting and getting the most out of this wonder piece.

Facebook, My Space, Orkut, Yahoo! etc etc etc, these have become a very basic and common part of our "today" lives. Nowadays, we play around with a cellphone as if we were born with one dangling on our ears.

We say that we can't live without them. However, there was a time when all this was non-existent. SO how did people manage it all then? And another peculiar thing that I have noticed and I find funny. Why does a person need to be in touch through facebook, yahoo! and what not especially when that person is YOUR CLASSMATE? These new-age gadgets and tools have made us from face-to-face conversing to in-front-of-screen conversing people.

Now don't take this lightly, it is a very very bad thing. And a sign of you being 'addicted' to this is that you can't resist checking your accounts every few hours. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you are still thinking about it even though you are actually doing something else.

I know that just blabbing about it won't make any difference, but to anyone who reads this article, please try to identify the signs and get a hold of yourself before you get 'addicted'!

I think you guys have already understood the theme of this article. But it's not about me complaining mind you!

Everybody complains. We complain about this and that and about anything which doesn't go according to exactly how we want it to go. We complain if we cannot finish homework, saying there's too much. We complain like hell has broken loose when we catch a terrible bout of flu.

But in all this, only a very very small percentage of people analyze their own situation. I have been among that small percentage group.

Well, recently, I guess many of you have come to know of my ill health. Well I have Eschericia Coli in my small intestine. Lethal in some cases(if severe) and difficult to cure, my condition was worsening day by day. Recently, my doctor suggested to take 14 injections(twice daily) for 7 days, a very powerful anti-biotic. I was determined to know more about it. I searched google for "Amykacin" and it's side effects left me scared, literally. Of the many bads, some included 'permanent hearing-loss', 'kidney failure', 'nervous complications' etc. For the first time in my life, I was scared.

But we consulted another doctor, who to my greatest relief shed light to the matter and instilled hope into me. Till then, I was constantly complaining to god of why he has been so unfair with me, and why he has given me such punishments. But I guess he heard that and sent me his message too, no matter indirectly.

The Heart, natures wonder

I only noticed recently the boy who came with his grandfather everyday. The boy was hunched back, and maybe had a mental illness. It was the first time I truly noticed him. He was a little less of my age. And then I got the message. I got to stop complaining and say "Thank You" instead for such a wonderful life I have got. That I have air to breathe, food to eat, clothes to wear, hands and legs, a brain and a warm beating heart. I can see, what a sensation it was to see pictures of trees in my own city New Delhi on TV later that day. It felt wonderful when I was running after the football the next day.

This was the first time I paid attention to all these no matter minute but infinitely important parts of my life, body, soul, and I did feel blessed. I just needed to share this experience with you all.

At last, I would like to end with this quote:

"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt and has a clear conscience?" - Adam Smith

I'm sorry to all my readers for I havn't made one good post in a long time. I mean I havn't really been writing from my heart these days, and let me tell you the reason, the truth.

Well, it may sound as an excuse but for the past one month, I've been overtly busy in my school work, tution work, mounting homework and rest of the junk work that bugs a 15 year old in Indian Schools(meaning endless studies).

So I would like to apologise for that. And yes, I will continue writing(obviously). But there's some good news. I'm working on a book. And in periodic installments, I plan to release parts of it, and hopefully there will be someone interested to read it once it completes, which might take some while.

"On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. The path of the Moon’s umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reaches 6 min 39 s. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean."

- Well, to watch the LIVE VIDEO STREAMING Online, here are the links:-

http://www.live-eclipse.org/

http://www.solar-eclipse-live.info/

The diamond ring

- For watching it with your own eyes, you'll need the timings which are:

Well, this is the first movie review I'm doing, and it starts with a good one too.

I'm sure all of you have read Harry Potter(who hasn't!). Well then you must have watched the movies too. And just to remind you, all of them were fantastic. Well, such isn't the case with the sixth installment in the Harry Potter movie series.

On the whole, the movie is quite disappointing as it leaves you craving for the inner aspects that made the original book by J.K. Rowling so famous. It lacks out on that front only, as on the effects, music and graphics side, it's outstanding. The acting was really good, especially the part where Harry was under the Felix Potion effect. Ron and Hermione were great. I presume many came just to watch her......

The one-liners were strong and managed to keep the crowd going. Overall, the movie gets a 3 and 1/2 star from me!